* Today’s sports section detailed the boxing journey of 1990 Norwich graduate Angel Bovee. She followed the traditional path to success – at first – attending college after high school and earning her degree. She was building a nice career for herself in the television industry when she abruptly changed course. Is there anything greater than a 180-degree turn? Bovee went from television producer and renting a nice apartment to living out of her car and training as an Olympic-style boxer. That moved paid off as she accumulated a long list of championships including three New York Golden Gloves titles. She was working toward her ultimate goal: To compete in the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, women’s boxing did not become an official Olympic sport until this year. Bovee, who is 40 years old this year, retired after her last Golden Gloves title in 2007, mainly because she exceeded USA Olympic Boxing’s maximum age for an amateur (35). Instead, she has immersed herself in promoting women’s boxing, and is the ultimate advocate serving as a member of the USA Boxing Board of Directors. Her story is a triumph in perseverance, and you can read about it by either picking up a back copy of today’s edition or clicking on the sports link on The Evening Sun’s website.

* Through five games this season, the Greene girls varsity soccer team has a 2-3 record, and in those five games, the Trojans have scored around 15 goals. Tonight, the Trojans lost to Sidney 2-1. In the process of taking the box score, I ask for the goal scorers and those who were credited with the assist. When I asked head coach Brandy Stone who scored for Greene, she said “Paige.” As if I expected anything else. Paige Wilcox has scored, in games reported to our paper, every single goal. There is one game of the five that was not reported, so I cannot say with 100 percent certainty Wilcox has scored EVERY single goal. Still, the odds are that if the team scored, she had a part in it.

* Seems like some anomalies have crept into the football schedules for a few local teams. For me, if I want to take in some games, I’ll likely need to fill my gas tank. Norwich and Oxford play on the road in four of the first five weeks; Sherburne-Earlville played its first two games on the road; and Unadilla Valley was scheduled for road trips in three of the first four games. A back-loaded home schedule seems nice, yet you have to consider that the potential for inclement weather is more likely in mid- to late-October. Oxford’s schedule seems particularly brutal with Friday the first of three straight road games against extremely difficult opposition. Coach Ray Dayton says this is “an opportunity to see what his kids are made of.”

* I compiled an interesting statistic on Greene football for my game preview article tomorrow. Since 2008 – and not including playoff games – Greene has a 30-6 overall record for an .833 winning percentage. I do not have complete season records of every Section IV team in that time, but I can safely conclude, based on the records I do have, that the Trojans’ mark is among the top three or four overall in that time span. The streak of seven straight winning seasons is also among the top four in Section IV. Nearly every football coach I speak to is striving for the tradition and excellence of football programs such as Chenango Forks and Walton. I think Greene is there.